tablishment of the Philomuse or literary society at Athens. Its design, in its renovated form, was simply the recovery of Grecian liberty; and for effecting this momentous object every essential requisite was combined in its constitution which required from its members moral probity, genuine patriotism, unsullied honour, inviolable secrecy, and liberal pecuniary contributions.* Blending with its regulations an air of somewhat childish mystery, its ceremonies and forms of admission resembled in a great degree those of the Carbonarit and other secret associations of Europe, although we have no direct or conclusive evidence of the existence of any intelligence with them.‡ tution, seem without any farther conjecture to identify the two institutions, especially when their incorporation is distinctly asserted. 66 * 6 Γραικός, βεβαίως θερμὸς ἐραστὴς τῆς πατρίδος, καὶ καλὸς avoparos," is the specified qualification of a candidate for admission, who on his initiation swears to consider the secret of the society sacred as a sealed letter, σε σφραγισμένα γράμματα.” 66 + See Memoirs of the Secret Societies of the South of Italy, particularly the Carbonari. London, Murray, 1821. Papers are said to have been been laid before the Congress of Verona convicting the Greek Heterists of correspondence with the Italian Carbonari, but neither the precise allegation nor the nature of its proof is correctly ascertained. A very minute and interesting account of the Heteria, indeed the most perfect which I have seen, is contained in the During the few years which preceded the Greek revolution the agents and emissaries of the Heteria were dispersed throughout every country and province where Greeks had established themselves. Repeated efforts were said to have been made to procure the countenance and support of the Russian cabinet,* and though these are said to have been all unsuccessful, their cause was enthusiastically espoused both at St. Petersburgh and Moscow,† and more especially at Odessa, Taganroc, and the southern cities of the empire, where their ephorias, or branch associations flourished in most active vigour.‡ They extended at the same time over the two hospodariates, Bulgaria and Servia, and were established at Constantinople, Smyrna, and all the trading towns of Turkey. Corresponding societies existed in every district of Greece, from the Morea to Macedon, and in every European state where the Greeks had been induced to settle; the capitani of every clan, the principal proprietors of shipping, the mer second section of Mr. Waddington's Introduction to his Visit to Greece, where the reader will find copies of the oaths, forms of admission, &c. Rizo, Hist. p. 247. Soutzo, p. 16. + See Greece in 1823 and 1824 by Colonel Stanhope, p. 29. Waddington, Introd. pp. xlix. xxxi. chants of the islands, the proestoi of the agricultural districts, and the traders of the maritime towns were all members of the Heteria, and even the patriotic females of the nation were said to have been enrolled in its numbers.* An extended and perpetual understanding was thus maintained throughout every province and every community of the Greeks wheresoever established, and regular and authentic intelligence was procured, not only of the proceedings of the Turkish Divan and of every independent pachalic, but likewise of the feelings and projects of the European courts. The Heteria served as a powerful lens to collect and concentrate into one focus the scattered rays of patriotism and intelligence, and to direct their combined force so as to be productive of the most striking and effective results. The wide extent of Greece and European Tur * Rizo, Hist. pp. 243, 247, 275. Carrel, p. 293. Pou queville, v. ii. pp. 217, 313. Soutzo, pp. 18, 19, 22. Mr. Waddington observes, that fear or interest prevented numbers of the wealthier Greeks from joining the Heteria, and that very few of the Athenians were known to be members. Of the Hydriots, likewise, some were held back by policy or prudence; "but no one will doubt," addз Mr. Waddington, "that they were all well aware of its existence, and were observing its secret operations with attention and anxiety." p. xxxi. key, as it stretches from its southern limits to the stream of the Danube and the snows of the Carpathian hills, resembled one vast prépared mine, furnished with regularly disposed magazines, and traversed in every direction by secret trains, which on the application of the first spark, however trivial, were to explode with frightful havoc and hurl far and wide the superincumbent structure of tyranny and oppression. An accident, it is said, at last applied the fatal flame; but a more probable cause was the sudden rupture between the Porte and Ali Pacha, who was declared fermanli by the Divan in the spring of 1820. The touch was electric, and almost simultaneously all Greece was in arms. Of the contest which ensued the details are still too recent to be recorded with confidence, and too conflicting to be judged of without the leveling evidence of time. A struggle, equal in According to a report quoted by Mr. Waddington, the revolution was precipitated by the discovery of a plot organized by the Heteria to seize on all the fortresses of the Morea. Another design of similar origin, which is equally said to have been accidentally discovered, was a plan for setting fire to Constantinople and effecting the murder of the Sultan. The existence of the latter is confirmed by Soutzo. Waddington's Introduction to his Visit to Greece, p. vi. Soutzo, Histoire, p. 41. duration to the war which Homer sung, and in individual valour not perhaps inferior, has at last drawn to a glorious close; and Greece, though her future destiny be as yet obscure, has emerged from the trial regenerate and free. Like the star of Merope, all sad and lustreless,* her darkness has at length disappeared, and her European sisters haste to greet the returning brightness of the beautiful and longlost Pleiad. * Ovid, Fast. 1. iv. v. 175. THE END. LONDON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, |